Adopted-ish
by YoungTakinom
Summary: I know some writers have Maxxor being parental to Tom, but after thinking about it, I started thinking that maybe Boddle would be more fatherly than Maxxor would.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Chaotic

Boddle wasn't sure what he wanted in life, but he knew he could never be a warrior. It was a nice fantasy back when he was a kid, but like most people, he had to grow up eventually. His life took its coarse, and one day he was assigned to be in charge of the Kiru arsenal. It was a good job for the creature; repairing battlegear that managed to get broken during battles, occasionally making a new weapon to help his tribe, and having the pleasure of seeing Intress when Maxxor sent her to see how things were going- although most of the time Maxxor was with her when she visited. But it was mostly keeping things organized and clean, which was secretly Boddle's favorite part of the job.

He kept telling himself he had everything he could ever want, but something was missing. He would never admit to it though. He had a safe, privileged life and the job of his dreams. He knew he didn't want a mate because women were too difficult for him to understand and being with another male didn't seem logical to him. But then what did he want? The older he got, the more he wondered. He was running out of time to figure it out, but he didn't have time to just sit around and think about it.

The fact that he could never figure it out bothered him more than he cared to admit. Boddle was one of the smartest creatures in the world of Perim. He could solve the most complex of equations with just his oversized brain and had created some of the most high-tech battlegear in the Overworld. It should not have been so hard to figure out what was missing in his perfect life, but Boddle honestly didn't know, and it was becoming more and more obvious that something was bothering him.

He tried to distract himself with his work. He was becoming obsessive over it, and even Maxxor began to get concerned. When humans started to visit Perim, Maxxor started putting guards inside the arsenal. Boddle didn't pay much attention to them; they did their job and he did his, and somehow them being there made him feel more aware that something was wrong with his life. Once again, he hid himself from the feeling by distracting himself with his work.

When he heard a rumor that humans used their 'scans" of creatures to become them for short periods of time, Boddle felt that feeling again, but this time it came with something else. There was a thick blanket of fear over that old emotion, and Boddle was now convinced that it was best to just ignore that feeling that had been there for so long.

He quickly came to the conclusion that the emotion resembled a cat, hiding when approached by an unknown creature or new circumstances. He looked back on how he had covered the feeling with his need for work when it was eventually met with the feeling of frustration over not knowing what it was about. The emotion had his itself from the new feeling. The presence of the guards had caused it to hide itself in more work. Now those otherworldly beings were in his world, and he knew the emotion was hiding underneath all the fear of these strange beings.

He tried to convince himself that the emotion was nothing more than curiosity, but he knew it wasn't true. He tried even more than ever to hide the emotion from himself by burying himself in his work. It was suffocating him, but it was better than the panic he was starting to feel at the thought of humanity. The panic always came with that other emotion, but he had given up on figuring out what it was.

But then that day came along. Call it what you will; fate, coincidence, luck- it doesn't change what happened. At started just like any other day, and Boddle was confident that it would end like one. Then that voice called out.

"Tom!" Boddle knew it was a human. He wasn't sure how he knew. He had never seen or heard a human before but he just knew that some human had gotten caught by the guards.

He wanted to see what a human looked like, and judging by the way that one was calling out his friend's name, it was a good opportunity to see two of them before the guards took them away. But the spider webs and the trapped guards made it clear that the humans were not the only intruders.

Long story short, Boddle let a human scan him. He couldn't blame the human for making up a story about using it, but he was amused.

 _Tom._

That name became very important to many creatures in the Overworld. Even Maxxor and Intress became attached to the human, but Boddle was certain that the bond between them was different somehow. Tom visited the leader from time to time, but he visited Boddle more. And although Boddle wouldn't admit to it, it started to hurt whenever the human ported out.

The sound of the porting reminded Boddle of that feeling he used to get, but the still unnamed emotion never truly returned.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Chaotic

Then Tom had gotten himself into trouble. Bodal didn't know the details, but he could not let anything happen to the teen. My Perimian standards, Tom was considered an adult, but as a human, he was disqualified from most jobs. Maxxor mentioned something about letting Tom stay in the castle, but the ruler of the Overworld knew that letting him stay there would allow the guards to get a hold of him, mistaking him for just another Chaotic player looking for a scan.

It was an impulse, but non the less, Tom was living with Bodal. At first his jobs just consisted of taking out the thrash and doing simple errands like delivering messages. But then Bodal found at that things were too dangerous for that. Tom wasn't just banned from Chaotic- he was hiding from the authorities.

"Why didn't you say anything about this earlier?" Bodal demanded to know while Tom moved heavy boxes around. If he had known that Tom was in hiding, Bodal would have never sent him out into plain sight.

"Rules are rules?" Tom said as though it was a question

"That's no excuse." Bodal lectured "You're supposed to be hiding. How do expect to hide if everyone can see you?"

Tom looked at him and grinned. "In plain sight." the human said as if it was a joke.

"This is not funny." Bodal was at his wits end, but he didn't admit to how worried he was. That much should have been obvious. "This is serious!"

"You think everything is serious." Tom was not joking anymore, and that was progress, and to Bodal, progress was a sign to continue with whatever he was doing.

"And you can't take anything seriously!"

"It's not that big of a deal." Tom tried to remain calm as he tried to reason with the creature. "Nobody saw me. Besides, I needed the fresh air."

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it," Bodal said without realizing how much he sounded like Tom's mother, "because from now on, you're not going outside."

Tom's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. He understood that living in Bodal's house and working for him meant that he had to do as Bodal said, but that was just to much.

"What did you say?"

"You heard me." Bodal repeated himself to make it clear. "You are not going outside."

"Great." Bodal had always hated sarcasm, but his time it really got to him. "Now I'm grounded for being normal? Thanks a lot dad!"

With anger suddenly fueling him, the boxes didn't seem as heavy. It only took a second for Bodal's mind to process what had just happened. Tom had called him 'Dad', and even though it was a sarcastic remark, Bodal suddenly realized what was going on. He remembered that feeling he used to get, and suddenly realized what it was that he wanted. Bodal wanted to be a father, but at this point he didn't want just any child- he wanted Tom.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Chaotic

Tom was bored, and Bodal could tell. He couldn't blame the young man, after all counting battlegear was pretty boring if you didn't get to use it, and Tom had already been warned once this week to leave things alone.

"Fourtysix, fourtyseve-"

"Hey Bodal, what are these things?" Tom knew knew exactly how to make things more interesting, and Bodal fell for it

"Why must you interrupt me?" Bodal went off. Tom tried to not smile at the overreaction. "You know I don't like that! It is always at the worst time!"

"So when would be a good time to interrupt?" Tom joked

"Never!" Bodal scolded "Now pay attention." The creature acted like he was going to start counting again, but before he did, he came up with a way to punish Tom for distracting him. "Where were we?"

Tom pointed to one of the shiny new battlegear and told Bodal "That was fourty seven."

"No, I don't believe it was." Bodal lied

"Yes it was!" Tom had bad idea as to where this was going "That was number fourty seven."

"Let's be sure." Bodal said in his usual calm tone "We're going to start over."

Tom groaned. Bodal didn't like hearing it, but he kept to his threat. They were only counting fourty seven new battlegear again, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Tom was quiet for a long time. Bodal just assumed that he was staying out of the way now and continued with his job.

"One hundred fourty two, one hundred fourty three, **one hundred fourty four**?" Bodal paused for half a second "That's strange. I counted one hundred and fourty five last month."

Using the word 'month' still felt strange to Bodal. It was a human word, and from his understanding, it meant about four weeks. Bodal was getting used to using human words so that Tom could understand. He was smarter than Tom- he learned quicker- so it was easier for both of them of he just learned how to speak more like humans did. That was the excuse he gave whenever someone took too much notice of it. But in truth, he was beginning to understand why mothers always seemed to talk funny towards their younger children. Whenever he spoke using words that were easier for Tom to understand, he just felt that it somehow strengthened the bond between them.

"Guess you counted wrong." Tom was clearly still upset, and that was even worse than him skipping a word.

"I never count wrong." Bodal slowly reminded him "I pride myself on precision. When Maxxor persuaded me to take over this position, you wouldn't believe the sloppy state this arsenal had fallen into."

Tom spoke up before could start ranting again.

"Bodal, didn't you send a scyclance in for repairs yesterday? That would be number one fourty five."

Bodal didn't like the hint of sass in the boy's voice, but the fact that Tom had corrected him was what really hit him hard. Bodal was supposed to be one of the smartest creatures in Perim; how could he forget something so simple?

"I believe the air shards need dusting." he lied just to get Tom to go away. At least dusting the shards would be more amusing than counting. "I'll finish the inventory." Bodal said firmly yet gently as he snatched the papers and quil from Tom.

It only took him seconds to finish inventory now that he wasn't doing so aloud. This much much better. Now that Tom had something more amusing to keep himself busy with, Bodal could finish everything else.

Surely that call on his scanner wouldn't take long.

But wasn't Tom in hiding for some reason? Why would he still have his scanner with him? And why would he accept a call if he didn't even want his friends to know why he was?

Bodal secretly listened in on the conversation. Normally he would frown on such behavior, but he could put his morals aside if it would keep Tom safe.

It didn't add up. Some stranger calling and claiming to be able to fix all of Tom's problems was strange enough, but not wanting to tell him anything until he saw him face to face was a very bad sign.

"Bodal, I'm taking an early lunch!" Tom said loudly, not knowing that Bodal was right behind him.

The creature watched his human port out. How could Tom not see the signs? Something was terribly wrong, but Bodal knew that once Tom pressed the button, it was too late to stop him. Now sweet, innocent Tom Majors was in danger, and Bodal couldn't get to him in time to save him.

He huffed and said something he had heard a while back.

"Never count on a human."


End file.
